On Thursday afternoon I was at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for a meeting of the Opportunity and Excellence Programme Board. This Board brings together DCMS Directors with the Chief Executives of the Department’s five main Non-Departmental Public Bodies (including Arts Council England, English Heritage and Sport England) to oversee progress against two of DCMS’s four Departmental Strategic Objectives. At this week’s meeting we heard a fascinating presentation on the effects of arts participation on mental health from Jenny Secker, Professor of Mental Health at Anglia Ruskin University. Professor Secker’s 2007 study of new arts participants produced some interesting conclusions on barriers to arts participation and ways to increase participation. We also had a first discussion on ‘digital participation’ in the cultural sectors and how promoting increases in digital engagement might help DCMS reach beyond the cultural organisations it (and its NDPBs) directly fund to have a greater influence on the cultural activities of the nation as a whole.